Evaluation of Support At Home Pilot Program

Support at Home (S@H) is a pilot program of the San Francisco Department of Aging and Adult Services to provide home care vouchers to keep San Francisco adults with disabilities and seniors living safely in the community. The goal of Support at Home is to serve individuals who are not eligible for other subsidized home care programs, like Medi-Cal In-Home Supportive Services (IHSS), due to income/resource limits or other program requirements. The program is administered by Institute on Aging (IOA) and will be evaluated by a Healthforce Center and School of Nursing team. The evaluation has two purposes: (1) support the continuous quality improvement of the S@H program through ongoing rapid data collection and analysis and (2) assess the overall efficacy of the program in maintaining residence at home, reducing hospitalizations and emergency department visits, controlling costs and supporting a high quality of life. The evaluation will use both quantitative and qualitative methods. Data will be received from the Institute on Aging about program enrollees, which will be augmented by surveys conducted by the evaluation team. The evaluation team also will collect data about a comparison group, which is composed of people on the waitlist for the program, individuals who choose to not enroll and those who are “just barely” not qualified. Additional information will be gathered through interviews with S@H enrollees and program staff and focus groups with family and friend caregivers of the enrollees.

Eligibility Criteria:

To be eligible for Support at Home, an individual must meet all of the following characteristics:

• Resident of San Francisco
• 18 years of age or older
• Require assistance with a minimum of two (2) Activities of Daily Living and/or Instrumental Activities of Daily Living
• Monthly income does not exceed 100% of Area Median Income (available at sfmohcd.org)
• Assets do not exceed $40,000 (excluding house and one car)
• Able to demonstrate financial and functional need for subsidized home care
• Willing to pay a portion of the home care cost
• Willing to participate in program requirements and pre/mid/post evaluations 
• Ineligible for other subsidized home care through programs such as IHSS, Community Living Fund, In-Home Operations or other state waiver programs

Questions and Referrals

For questions or referrals, please call IOA at (415) 750-4111.  To make an online referral, please fill out the S@H Intake Form.